Did I Miss Something?

[trakand_01]

OK I'm reading CoS, and they've just got the Bowl, which means that they've just been in the building in the Rahad.

 

So to start, Faolain and Ispan showed up, with their street-toughs. Fair enough, they knew there was a cache somewhere, stands to reason someone would have managed to track it / the group down by now.

 

But whilst they're fighting them downstairs, Elayne and her Kin are attacked by a Gholam upstairs. To what we understand, the Gholam has nothing to do with the BA sisters downstairs - presumably Sammael sent it but how did he know about the cache (he doesnt know where Moghedian is) and how coincidental is it that they all showed up at the same time!?

 

Did i miss something previous to this that told us Sammael was onto it? It just seemed a random thing to happen. It was only Mat's mention of the stasis box (when trying to convince everyone about the gholam) that helped me make the link to Sammael.

 

(I was also slightly annoyed by Elayne who told Mat she'd seen everything he did with the Gholam and thanked him for trying to save her - if she saw it all, and she seemed pretty healthy once he stood her up, why didnt she get up and help the poor fella?!!)

 

The other thing i was slightly confused about is the scene immediately after, back at Tarasin palace when he's trying to convince them all to leave. He's shouting and telling them all Birgitte has told him about Gholam etc, and suddenly he realises he's the only man, looks at Nynaeve and Elayne, makes an assumption and strides over to insult the Sea Folk and gain their acquiscience... I'm confused - did i miss something here? Did he see something i didnt in N & E's faces, think something different about being the only guy there?

 

I have to say i'm getting more and more into Mat with every heroic gesture but this seriously confuses me!!

[Tyrell]

Ya missed something ;)

 

"Then find what I want!" Sammael roared. I know it's hidden somewhere in this kjasic fly spec of a city! Ter'angreal, angreal, even sa'angrael! I have tracked them and traced them!" <blah blah blah>

 

"Great Master, there are witches... Aes Sedai... here. <blah blah blah>"

 

Finally he nodded "I will send you... someone... to deal with these Aes Sedai"

 

The Gholam is super good at tracking, so I guess it just so happened that he cought up with them when he did, and I seem to recall that Ipsan and Faolain were following either the Kin or Nynaeve and co, or maybe they just tortured the location outta someone, I forget.

 

Edit : what have we established here with my 5+ edits? I may be fast, but I'm absolutely useless at board code thingies :D

[RobertAlexWillis]

To what we understand, the Gholam has nothing to do with the BA sisters downstairs - presumably Sammael sent it but how did he know about the cache (he doesnt know where Moghedian is) and how coincidental is it that they all showed up at the same time!?

 

It is quite a coincidence ... I always wrote it off to Mat's ta'veren-ness being a pain in the butt as well as being useful.

 

Did i miss something previous to this that told us Sammael was onto it?

 

Yes, his interview with Jaichim Carridin in ACoS ch 15.  Sammael has Carridin and his Darkfriends looking for the stash, which he knows is somewhere in Ebou Dar.  When Carridin complains that there are Aes Sedai involved, Sammael promises to send someone to deal with them (the gholam).  That they all converged at the same time is the coincidence mentioned above.

 

I was also slightly annoyed by Elayne who told Mat she'd seen everything he did with the Gholam and thanked him for trying to save her - if she saw it all, and she seemed pretty healthy once he stood her up, why didnt she get up and help the poor fella?!!

 

What exactly could she have done against the gholam?  If she had jumped in, all she would have done was get in Mat's way.  That was a fight that she wisely stayed out of.

 

He's shouting and telling them all Birgitte has told him about Gholam etc, and suddenly he realises he's the only man, looks at Nynaeve and Elayne, makes an assumption and strides over to insult the Sea Folk and gain their acquiscience... I'm confused - did i miss something here? Did he see something i didnt in N & E's faces, think something different about being the only guy there?

 

He realized that the Sea Folk were the only group that had a reason not to leave.  The Aes Sedai were all taking their orders from Elayne and Nynaeve, and the Kin took their orders from the Aes Sedai.  Then he realized that Egwene and Nynaeve expected to use his ta'veren-ness to push the Sea Folk around ... its the only reason they would include a man in their decision making process, and why he was the only man there.

 

Despite being a little annoyed at being manipulated ... again ... he cared more about getting their manipulative little keisters out of Ebou Dar before they got themselves, and maybe him, killed.  So, he pushed the Sea Folk around.

 

And yes, Mat is going into full "house on fire" mode.  The women around him will try to keep him there for the rest of his life, no doubt.

[trakand_01]

Aha!! So now i can piece together the OTHER scene i was confused about and had subsequently forgotten and this one to make a full picture. I did wonder who the 'someone' was that Sammael referred to at the time - the Gholam i now understand.

 

Would Elayne's power have no effect on a Gholam? I'm sorry I have completely forgotten what does and doesnt affect them - Mat's medallion certainly does, what is so special about his medallion, if Elayne's power cannot help?

 

Thanks for the help guys.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Would Elayne's power have no effect on a Gholam? I'm sorry I have completely forgotten what does and doesnt affect them - Mat's medallion certainly does, what is so special about his medallion, if Elayne's power cannot help?

 

The One Power cannot touch a gholam at all.  There are probably some indirect weaves that might help (dropping a building on it, etc) but Elayne wasn't really in a position to devise that kind of tactical assault.

 

Mat's medallion probably works along the same lines as the gholam (the Power cannot touch either directly).  So, when those two similar forces collide, there is an adverse reaction.

[trakand_01]

that makes sense, thanks.

 

Do you think the gholam will have any large part to play at TG, or do you think they'll just be the hit-squad trying to stop certain individuals ever getting to TG?

 

If they do... surely making weapons in the same way as the fox-head would be a good way to slow the gholam down, even if they cant kill them? Arrow heads and the like.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Do you think the gholam will have any large part to play at TG, or do you think they'll just be the hit-squad trying to stop certain individuals ever getting to TG?

 

I honestly have no clue.

 

If they do... surely making weapons in the same way as the fox-head would be a good way to slow the gholam down, even if they cant kill them? Arrow heads and the like.

 

It would certainly have an effect, but at the present, no one we know of knows how to make anything like Mat's medallion.